Hhmmm has anyone actually read the legislation and the bill at length to understand it? as knowledge is power?
TL
R I think as Airsofters we are well covered, so chill the f**k out! The new Bill proposed for the 14-09-16 might be better for Airsoft really, hint, hint, the bill also proposes a new section to the Firearms Act 1968, S.57A
But read on to learn more of what I mean?
So upon seeing the news on several forum sites about the up and coming Policing and Crime Bill due to be talked over in the House of Lords on 14-09-16 its seemed that the sport of airsoft is to be doomed if you take the information from UKAPU, UKARA et al, however as some have pointed out that Lord Shrewsbury is doing this for political reasons, one cannot for one second think that maybe UKAPU might have their own political agendas other than being the saving grace of Airsoft it wants to be seen as.
UKAPU have produced a nice poster where they have a step by step, What you can do to help
1. Write an angry letter to a Lord on their LORDS HIT LIST;
2. That the GTA will be the only ones to benefit, boycott all GTA members who support the bill and
3. JOIN UKAPU.
Link to the reference above:
http://www.ukapu.org.uk/saveairsoft/
Point 1 with the HIT LIST sounded a bit unprofessional to me and started my scepticism, Point 2 GTA boycott fine I agree with that, you dont shop at a place that is against your beliefs, but point 3 JOIN UKAPU got me thinking, is this more for UKAPUs own political reasons? I noticed that to be a UKAPU Silver or Gold member they want your money (£5 for silver, £10 for gold), Bronze is free for a year but after that you have to upgrade up.
On the poster UKAPU made they mention the Airsoft Trade Body, no internet footprint, all Google searches lead back to UKAPU, UKARA is also on the poster but their website make no mention of the new bill, albeit their website is hardly the best.
I have always learned to be quite sceptical and tend to look to the actual paperwork, for those of you that dont know, Acts and Bills can be written in a very archaic manner thats basically means you need to break it down to understand it.
So with that I decided to go to the House of Lords website and look up the Policing and Crime Bill proposal as well as refer to the original Firearms Act 1968 specifically S57 (and 57A which doesnt exist, yet! But if this Bill passes it will)
So lets start with the crux of the matter, the Firearms Act 1968, S.57 (1):
In this Act, the expression firearm means a lethal barrelled weapon of any description from which any shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged and includes
(a) any prohibited weapon, whether it is such a lethal weapon as aforesaid or not; and
(b ) any component part of such a lethal or prohibited weapon; and
(c ) any accessory to any such weapon designed or adapted to diminish the noise or flash caused by firing the weapon; and so much of section 1 of this Act as excludes any description of firearm from the category of firearms to which that section applies shall be construed as also excluding component parts of, and accessories to, firearms of that description.
They want to change the wording of Firearms Act 1968, S.57 (1), note that the new additional change is highlighted in bold to this:
In this Act, the expression firearm means
(a) a lethal barrelled weapon (see subsection (1B));
(b ) a prohibited weapon;
(c ) a relevant component part in relation to a lethal barrelled weapon or a prohibited weapon (see subsection (1D));
(d) an accessory to a lethal barrelled weapon or a prohibited weapon where the accessory is designed or adapted to diminish the noise or flash caused by firing the weapon.
You will notice that at the end of S.57 (1) (a) has the
see subsection (1B))
Subsection 1B states:
(1B) In subsection (1)(a), lethal barrelled weapon means a barrelled
weapon of any description from which a shot, bullet or other missile,
with kinetic energy of more than one joule at the muzzle of the weapon,
can be discharged.
And this is where were getting our knickers in a twist, before it used to state that a lethal barrelled weapon means a barrelled weapon of any description from which a shot, bullet or other missile. This could be anything from a shotgun to a pipe launching out a potato etc. Now it has the addition of with kinetic energy of more than one joule at the muzzle of the weapon, can be discharged. So adds a specific muzzle velocity too.
So reading it like this means it can be construed that any barrelled weapon which discharges a shot etc with more than 1 joule of energy will be made illegal overnight and that all airsofters up and down the UK should be banged up, so far UKAPU have been correct and have used this to try and gain more members to sign up in apparently the GOOD FIGHT.
BUT!!!!
If you were to go to the Firearms Act 1968 and check through the Act as it currently stands, it goes through all its sections numerically occasionally adding the odd A, B, C to certain sections, refer to Section 30 of the Firearms Act 1968 which has Sections 30A, 30B, 30C and 30D.
Section 57 goes straight to Section 58 as expected, however the new Bill proposed for the 14-09-16 has a line stating:
Subsection (1) is subject to section 57A (exception for airsoft guns).
Basically, the new Bill wants to add a part specifically for us, S.57A which (does not yet exist) is a whole new proposed section to the Firearms Act 1968 which states:
57A Exception for airsoft guns
(1) An airsoft gun is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of this Act.
(2) An airsoft gun is a barrelled weapon of any description from which only a small plastic missile, with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that does not exceed the permitted level, can be discharged.
(3) Small plastic missile means a missile that
(a) is made wholly or partly from plastics, and
(b ) does not exceed 6 millimetres in diameter.
(4) The permitted kinetic energy level is
(a) in the case of a weapon which is designed or adapted so that two or more missiles can be discharged successively without repeated pressure on the trigger, 1.3 joules;
(b ) in any other case, 2.5 joules.
This above means that either UKAPU have only read a small part of the new bill and stopped reading or they want more members, Section 57 is so specific to Airsoft guns NOT being regarded as firearms for this Act is unreal, in fact the way S.57A, Paragraph 4, line b - is written technically means that Full Autos can go up to 1.3J or about 372FPS using .20g BBs, Semi Auto DMRs and Bolt Actions can legally go up to 515FPS on .20g BBs. This is why we should use joules instead of FPS and weights to measure our guns.
This means that if this Bill passes, nothing for Airsofters will change, I think the Airsoft community have misinterpreted Air Weapons such as Air Rifles and Pistols with Airsoft Guns. Frankly the Bill has included S.57A to try and bring the Firearms Act 1968 up to date to formally recognise Airsoft Guns under the Act but clarifies that Airsoft Guns are NOT firearms.
For those of you fearing that Police would come to Airsosft Sites and Chrono everyone en masse, I would say dont woryy, Police have better things to do and would risk alienating Airsoft Players, of which a sizeable portion are Police Officers themselves.
References:
1.
Firearms Act 1968
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/57
Accessed 03-09-16
2.
Policing and Crime Bill 2015-16 to 2016-17, HL Bill 55 dated 14-06-16, Las accessed on 03-09-16
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2016-2017/0055/17055.pdf
Specifically referring to Page 137, Part 6 Firearms, Paragraph 111
Firearms Act 1968: meaning of firearm etc[/quote
Interesting. I think I need to read up on this further.
